The story of ‘Dick Whittington’ is one of the few home grown stories in the Panto collection.

The Pantomime adds another element to the story in the form of rats, and the arch villain of Pantomime King (or sometimes Queen) Rat. In the tale Dick and his cat journey to Morocco, where ‘Tommy’, as the cat is traditionally known, rids the country of rats, earning Dick half the Sultan’s wealth as a reward. The addition of Rats to the story possibly harks back to the Black Death which Londoners recalled with fear. Rats were the cause of the great plagues and the triumph over ‘King Rat’ would have been a popular ending to the story.

Sadly it does not appear that he had a cat of any fame, and various theories have been put forward as to how a cat came to feature so heavily in his story. One being that coal vessels of the time were  called ‘Cats’, another is that it derived from the French ‘achat’ meaning a purchase. However, on Highgate Hill today there stands a statue in honour of this faithful creature, on the site where, in legend he heard the bells of London call him back to become ‘Three Times Lord Mayor’.